Police cadets impress at Attestation ceremony

In the past few months the cadets have had guest speakers from different police departments and also the fire service to speak to them about their roles and experiences.

The scheme began last year across the five districts in West Yorkshire and is a nationally recognised police uniformed youth group.

This is a two-year programme for each of the cadets and is also aligned to the bronze and silver awards of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

The purpose of the cadet scheme is not to recruit police officers of the future, but to encourage the spirit of adventure and good citizenship

The cadets have now passed their Attestation, which is a formal ceremony where they parade in full uniform in front of senior officers from the force.

This took place at the West Yorkshire Police Training and Development Centre in Wakefield.

This was their first challenge to learn a drill in a short space of time ready for their Attestation. All of the Cadets worked in unison, marching and standing to attention at all times.

PC Michelle Linney, cadets co-ordinator for the Kirklees District, said: “The Kirklees Cadets programme has come on in leaps and bounds since we launched the scheme in October last year; as have the cadets themselves.

“They have been learning about many aspects of policing, including processes around missing persons, law, statistics and emergency call handling.

“Our cadets were very impressive at their Attestation and many of their parents and guardians attended the ceremony, which was a really proud moment for them and us.

“The next stage of the scheme is helping out the local communities in Kirklees, which is in line with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and each cadet will need to complete three hours of volunteering work each month.”